Sen. Ted Cruz said on Monday he would make oral arguments to the Supreme Court should they agree to hear an appeal from Pennsylvania Republicans suing to flip their state’s election results from Joe Biden to President Trump.
“Because of the importance of the legal issues presented, I have publicly urged the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case brought by Congressman Mike Kelly, congressional candidate Sean Parnell, and state representative candidate Wanda Logan challenging the constitutionality of the presidential election results in Pennsylvania,” Cruz said in a statement to the Washington Examiner, which was first reported by Fox News.
“Petitioners’ legal team has asked me whether I would be willing to argue the case before the Supreme Court, if the Court grants certiorari. I have agreed, and told them that, if the Court takes the appeal, I will stand ready to present the oral argument,” the Texas Republican continued in the statement. “As I said last week, the bitter division and acrimony we see across the Nation needs resolution. I believe the Supreme Court has a responsibility to the American People to ensure, within its powers, that we are following the law and following the Constitution.”
Republicans in Pennsylvania asked the Supreme Court to overturn the state’s 2019 law on mail-in voting, a legal endeavor spearheaded by Kelly and Trump ally Parnell. They argue that a state statute known as Act 77 violates the state and federal Constitution by allowing for “no-excuse mail-in” votes on a large scale. The act allowed voters to cast their ballots by mail up to 50 days before an election without giving an excuse, which was previously required in order to receive an absentee ballot.
The lawsuit argues that Pennsylvania’s Constitution sets “two, and only two, constitutionally-permissible methods of voting : 1) offering your ballot in propria persona at the polling place on election day; and 2) exceptions to the first method limited to those persons qualifying under the absentee voting provision” within the state’s Constitution.
More than 2.5 million Pennsylvania residents voted by mail last month, constituting more than one-third of total ballots cast statewide.
The state’s Supreme Court shot down the lawsuit, prompting Republican officials to make an appeal to the Supreme Court. Greg Teufel, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told the Washington Examiner last week that the Pennsylvania high court “slammed the courthouse door shut before the election” and has now “slammed the courthouse door shut after the election.”
Cruz previously urged the Supreme Court to hear Kelly’s lawsuit, saying the case “raises serious legal issues.“
“This appeal argues that Pennsylvania cannot change the rules in the middle of the game. If Pennsylvania wants to change how voting occurs, the state must follow the law to do so,” Cruz said. The Republican senator also said the justices on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court made a decision that “reflect their political and ideological biases.”
“Just over a month ago, Justice Alito, along with Justice Thomas and Justice Gorsuch, wrote — correctly, I believe — concerning the Pennsylvania court’s previous decision to count ballots received after Election Day, that ‘there is a strong likelihood that the State Supreme Court decision violates the Federal Constitution,” Cruz continued.
Cruz worked as Texas’s solicitor general from 2003 to 2008, making nine appearances before the Supreme Court.
